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Dishonored 2 must be played twice

E3 2015 had an exciting and brilliantly crafted cinematic trailer for Dishonored 2 will a female character, Emily Kaldwin, as the lead. Fans of the title were thrilled to see a sequel on the horizon, even though the trailer was just emulated gameplay. The theme of E3 this year was gameplay, so trailers tended to stand out if no actual game footage was shown. Given that the title and feel of the game is already established, the trailer at least gives us a good idea of what’s in store. And in a recent interview about the game and giving players choice, Harvey Smith the game’s co-creator, explained something that may push many players to play the game twice.

Replay Remix

Many games give players the option to replay the story with new challenges and increased difficulty. Often times this is unappealing to some gamers as it changes very little about the game and gameplay, it’s just harder to beat. Something creative being introduced with Dishonored 2 is the option to play the entire game with one of two characters: Emily or Corvo. Players who want to experience the sequel with more familiarity and accessibility will enjoy Corvo, as he will have all his classic things like rat swarms, possession, stopping time, etc. And when compared to Emily he will feel more heavy and brutal. Emily will feel like more of what he described as a, “finesse character”, with a teleportation ability and her own assassinations and animations.

Choice within a choice

Beyond just picking a character to play with that will have different skills and abilities you will also have freedom with skills point spending and skill trees. Similar to what I said when talking about Ghost Recon Wildlands, games like this can become slightly bland due to the results feeling unaltered when player choice feels somewhat narrow and restrictive. What’s the point in having skill trees if everybody will basically look the same in the end game? This is where the choices and freedom being given are exciting to see, especially when Smith admits it costs more money and is more challenging to develop. They are committed to fluidity where your choices and another player’s choices will be different.

He also talked about the multiple routes and options given to players when approaching missions with different game styles. This is something that should give the skill tree choices and replay depth more strength as each person can approach the game and missions in the way they think is best. Games like this can start to feel like the freedom and choice is a mirage that fades as you’re forced into what feels like an almost on-rails experience where you have the same outcome as everyone else playing the game. This is all promising and makes me look forward to the next Dishonored game and I also hope these types of games start to influence the gaming industry as it raises and changes the consumer expectations.